Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Latter-day Saint movements West Valley City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA · 2012

United States: LDS branch president convicted of sexually battering a teenage congregant summoned to his office

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Branch president, small LDS Church congregation, West Valley City

Organization

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Spiritual nexus

Flores served as branch president — described in the opinion as the 'presiding priesthood leader' of the branch — of a small LDS congregation. He invited T.H., a sixteen-year-old member of his congregation, to speak with him alone in his office in that capacity, where the abuse occurred.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

Date in cited record · trial

Third District Court, Salt Lake Department, Utah. Jury convicted Armando Flores of sexual battery and unlawful detention for acts against T.H., a sixteen-year-old member of the congregation he led, whom he invited alone into his office.
2015-04-16 · appellate

Utah Court of Appeals. Convictions affirmed; the court rejected Flores's claims regarding voir dire on religious bias and the State's use of peremptory challenges.

Appellate history

2015-04-16

Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions (amended opinion).

Documented coercion mechanisms

presiding priesthood authority used to summon a congregant alone into his office

Primary record

Sources

court opinion appellate opinion State v. Flores, 2015 UT App 88 (Utah Ct. App. Apr. 16, 2015) (amended opinion).: Full appellate opinion describing Flores's role as LDS branch president/presiding priesthood leader, his use of that office to summon the sixteen-year-old victim alone, and the appellate affirmance of the convictions.

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